Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has defended his decision to start Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in Saturday’s defeat gainst Manchester City.
The Red Devils played host to their fierce rivals on the weekend and Mourinho sprung a couple of surprises when he named his starting eleven.
Mkhitaryan was handed his first Premier League start for the club, whilst Lingard was also deployed down the flank.
However, both players heavily struggled and were taken off at half time, with Mourinho turning to young striker Marcus Rashford and midfielder Ander Herrera.
Mourinho’s selection has since come under intense scrutiny after the 2-1 loss, but the Portuguese tactician insists no one is at fault for Saturday’s poor first half.
“Let’s speak, for example, about Mkhitaryan,” Mourinho said. “How many big matches has he played?
“The kid Jesse [who was starting just his 21st league game for United] — how many times has he played big matches?
“So you never know the way players are going to react, especially when you don’t know them so well. And, after only a couple of months, it’s too early to know them really well.”